Wednesday, 4 February 2009

The Perak Sultan, When Appealed by His Subjects, Must Be Seen Doing the Right Thing in Their Troubled Times

Malaysiakini reports: Perak Menteri Besar Mohd Nizar Jamaluddin is expected to have an audience with the sultan to seek the dissolution of the state assembly.If the sultan accedes to the request, a snap state election will have to be called in view of the current political upheaval in Perak.

It is learnt that Nizar is now waiting to be summoned by Sultan Azlan Shah for the audience. The menteri besar and his state assemblypersons are at the state secretariat. Nizar is also expected to call for an emergency press conference later today. Read here for moreUnder the constitutional make-up of our nation, the will of the subjects of His Highness the Sultan of Perak is embodied in the political institution called the Perak State Assembly currently under the leadership of the Speaker of the Assembly. Any suggestion of a Unity Government under current political climate is still short of the Perak rakyat's expectations and short of being "unacceptable" on many counts. It is perceived by the rakyat as being too convenient and too easy a way out of a difficult problem, with little or no long term interest of the state.In layman parlance, it is to "chicken out" from taking a hard decision.A unity government is still destabilising, with little medium to long term stability for Perak. It is a very short-sighted proposal and lacking in the long term economic interest of the state.

Furthermore, such a proposal discredits the wishes of the voters who had chosen to elect a Pakatan Rakyat to be the government in the state of Perak. One might agree for a Unity Government if there is no clear winner as a result of the March 2008 General Election, but certainly not now given the dubious and scandalous circumstances the Perak state is in.No, any suggestion for a Unity Government under current circumstances is a BAD idea.

QUOTE

"... Since when have we amended the law to allow the EC to take over the function of the Speaker to accept or not to accept the resignation of members of the legislature?

What legal standing does EC have to claim a say over the membership of a legislature?

What legal power does EC have to interfere in the exercise of the speaker’s authority to run the affairs of the legislature?

And isn’t the decision over the suspension or resignation of a legislator the exclusive domain of the speaker?

How could an election body that has functioned for half a century have committed such fundamental error?

What conclusion can we draw other than that the EC under the new leadership of Abdul Aziz, instead breathing a new life to the much discredited body with a higher level of independence and integrity, has in fact fallen into greater depth of subservience to the ruling power ?

Even the much criticized former EC chairman Rashid Rahman had the decency to publicly declare that the EC had only ONE option – to act on the speaker’s notification to call for by-elections?Read here for more-Kim Quek

A Former Government Official

Who Became the Spineless and Irresponsible Political Stooge

of the BN/UMNO Government

as Chairman of the Election Commission

WHAT AN IDIOT !!

Before being appointed as Chairman of the Election Commission, Abdul Aziz Mohd Yusuf was the Secretary-General (Setiausaha) of the Ministry of Home Affairs under the BN-Government.

His independence and neutrality as Chairman of the Election Commission is suspect.Therefore, his decisions on election matters are questionable. He should be removed so as not to inhibit the democratic process in the country.

Absent vitiating factors that the law recognises like forgery, fraud, undue influence, duress and illegality, an adult (not a minor or someone suffering from mental incapacity) is deemed to be responsible for handing over to a third party any signed document.

Thus, if Mr A hands a signed blank cheque to Mr B who then uses it to withdraw more monies than Mr A had in mind, Mr A cannot complain because he "armed" Mr B to make use of the signed cheque in any way he wished. Hence the expression "carte blanche" or giving a blank cheque, that is, giving full discretionary powers to another. Similarly, the giving of a credit card to another to use.

Likewise, in many other areas of law, signed undated documents are valid. They are regularly used in company and corporate documents. In conveyancing, it is common for people who sign private caveat forms to also sign withdrawal of caveat forms at the same time. Documents signed in "escrow" play a significant role in business transactions. As a matter of principle, the law should apply with equal force to politicians.

My attention has been drawn to the decision of the Federal Court in Ong Kee Hui v. Sinyium Anak Mutit [1983] 1 MLJ 36. In my opinion, that decision was very much influenced by the fact that the politicians who signed undated resignation letters and gave them to the Sarawak United People's Party (SUPP) also agreed to donate their parliamentary remuneration to that party.

In consequence, inadequate consideration was given by the Federal Court to the issue that is relevant for present purposes, namely, the validity of resignation letters per se, without any complications of financial benefits.

Having regard to the matters discussed in the paragraphs above (which were not mentioned by the Federal Court in the Ong Kee Hui case), and the fact that it is universal practice for politicians of all shades in most countries to operate on such basis, I am not convinced that this decision cannot be distinguished in present circumstances.

"... The only options left for the PR coalition is to dissolve the state assembly and call for fresh elections, in which case it stands to win and with a bigger majority to end the political crisis once and for all. "We don't have any other option," Perak exco member and senior lawyer A. Sivanesan told The Malaysian Insider.

"We must return to the people and get a new mandate to resolve the crisis and we are confident based on our performance in the last 10 months that the voters will return us with a bigger majority. I don't see how else this crisis can be resolved in a fair and democratic manner,"he said, adding the people of Perak are upset and angry with the PKR duo who jumped ship, and are ready to punish any and all defectors..." Read here for more

"....Facing such unprecedented and unruly challenges engineered by the incumbent Federal power, it gives comfort to note that the Pakatan Rakyat government of Perak is riding over these storms with a steady hand. It has wisely resorted to two trump cards of incumbency – barring the two assemblymen from the assembly to maintain the present workable majority and contemplating a snap election for the state to seek a renewed mandate from the people. .." Read here for more